THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 95 



NOTES ON A COLLECTING TRIP TO SWAN HILL 

 DISTRICT. 



By C. French, Jun. 



( Read before the Field Naturalists' Club, x^th May, 1889 J 



Leaving Melbourne by the 6.50 a.m. train on 22nd October, ^Z?>, 

 I reached Kerang at 4.30. The place did not present a very 

 inviting appearance. Having to wait in the township for some 

 time, i had a look round for plants close to the township, but 

 nothing of interest was noticed. Leaving Kerang for Lake Charm 

 by the coach, my companion, a Chinaman, soon inquired what I 

 was after, and began to give me a lot of information regarding 

 birds, &c. He spoke English fluently. The ride in the coach 

 was very pleasant, the night being moonlight, and as we skirted 

 along the various lakes they looked very beautiful. Lake Charm 

 Hotel being reached I had tea, and turned in. 



Next morning I made an early start for the Racecourse Lake, 

 a fine sheet of water, with plenty of wild fowl, &c. Around the 

 lake the following plants were collected : — Miniulus prostratus, 

 Atriplex halimoides, A. semibaccatum, Centipeda cunninghami, 

 Stemodia motgana, Stellaria palustris, &=€. 



Birds seem plentiful here. Several species of parrots were 

 noticed; also many other sorts of which I did not know the name. 

 Crows were everywhere, and their noise will not be easily for- 

 gotten. Several nests and eggs, also eggs of Black-fronted 

 Dottrell, Garrulous Honeyeater, White-plumed Honeyeater, Pied 

 Grallina, &c. 



About a mile from Racecourse Lake there is some fine collecting 

 ground, on which I collected Hakea leucoptera, Kochia brachyptera, 

 Atriplex halimoides, Aster pimefoides, Ptilotus spathulatus, Santalum 

 acut7iinatuni, Aristida behriana, Exocarpus aphylla, Pittosporum 

 phyllyra^oides, Cassytha melantha, Mimulus prostratus, Lobelia 

 concolor, Salicornia australis, Leptorrhynchus palustris, Calo- 

 cephalus sonderi. Euphorbia drummondi, Melaleuca parvifiora, 

 Nitraria schoberi, Myoporum platycarpum, &=c. ; and, in some 

 small lakes were found the water plant Limosella curdieana. 

 Retracing my steps to the hotel, several fine Whistling Eagles 

 were noticed ; also the Brown Tree Creeper, Black-backed Por- 

 phyrio, a species of Wood Swallow, &c. I reached the hotel 

 very much pleased with the results of my first day's collecting. 



During the next few days I visited Lake Charm and other 

 lakes near the hotel, but mostly the same things collected at 

 Racecourse Lake were found. 



Mr. Geo. Morton, an energetic and observing naturalist, kindly 

 sent over his buggy from Benjeroop — a distance of eleven miles — 

 for me to come to stay at his place. The ride over was something 



